Produced by Jason Isbell, Emmy and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net [Transcriber's Note: Bold text is surrounded by =equal signs= and italic text is surrouned by _underscores_.] [Illustration: Cover] [Illustration: Dedication: A book for all girls who love to help Mother. Jane Eayre Fryer] [Illustration: Mary Frances took the hint, and turned Toaster carefully over.] [Illustration: Title] THE MARY FRANCES COOK BOOK OR ADVENTURES AMONG THE KITCHEN PEOPLE By JANE EAYRE FRYER Full page illustrations by MARGARET G. HAYS Other illustrations by JANE ALLEN BOYER Copyright, 1912, by JANE EAYRE FRYER [Illustration] DEAR GIRLS: This book tells the story of Mary Frances, a little girl whose great ambition was to help her mother. So anxious was she to do this that even the humble Kitchen People became her teachers and instructors. They talked to her, a thing never heard of before; helped her over the hard places, and explained mysterious secrets she could never otherwise have understood. They wove around a simple little book of recipes her mother had made for her the spell of Fairyland; they led her through a series of delightful adventures such as never happened to any girl before, in which she lived for three whole happy weeks, and out of which she emerged no longer a little girl, but a real little woman. Some very wise people would call this a story book, some a manual training book, and others a cookery book, but Mary Frances knows better; she knows that it is a Book within a Book that introduced her to Aunty Rolling Pin and a lot of other dear, dear friends, such as no little girl ever had before, and whom she now wishes to introduce for the first time to all other little girls. (I know that she gained their consent to do this because she told me so.) In the hope that Mary Frances' wish may be realized, this record of her adventures is sent out to the girls of America with the best wishes of THE AUTHOR. [Illustration] [Illustration] [Illustration: CONTENTS]